Blog

Pastor’s Message 10-26-18

One of the themes of our church over the past year has been that we would become an “experimental church.” That means we would identify potentially fruitful new ideas for our ministry together and then try them out, evaluating what happened so we can learn what we should do next as we move into the future. In doing so, we are being both more faithful to our calling as disciples of Christ and more effective in terms of the impact we are making for Christ in our church and in the world.

So, given all that, I want to report on the status of two experiments that we conducted this fall, both of which have been successful in different ways. The first is the experiment of holding a second Sunday School program during the 9 AM worship service. Having heard from several families that they would appreciate something to intentionally engage children at 9 AM, we decided to try a second Sunday School and see what happened over a six-week period. Almost immediately, a whole new group of children who had not been present during the 10:30 AM service appeared and began participating, and their parents began worshipping regularly at the 9 AM service. So the Session has now made that a regular program!

Second, the Hospitality Team experimented with doing only one Hospitality Hour between the two worship services, rather than one after each service. They wanted to test whether a second Hospitality Hour after the 10:30 AM service was important, given the challenge it was putting on our volunteers to serve it. After evaluating the feedback we’ve received, the Session is reinstating the Hospitality Hour after the 10:30 AM service, but also recruiting a new group of volunteers to serve. So, starting this Sunday, there will be Hospitality after the 10:30 AM service as well as between services, but we need people to help serve in the future! So if you are willing to help out from time to time, please let us know with an email so we can connect you with opportunities to serve in the future.

It is wonderful to be part of a church that is willing to experiment, and let us know what other experiments you feel it is important to try!